Posted by Eliza on June 04, 2010

Stephenie Meyer fans probably don't need a reminder, but just in case your summer reads have you distracted . . . The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner goes on sale tomorrow! The hardcover costs $13.99, and one dollar from every sale will be donated to the American Red Cross. At noon on June 7, you can read the book for free on Meyer's site.

Seth—Meyer's webmaster/little brother—posted a news item today on StephenieMeyer.com: Meyer has created a The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner Playlist, which you can check out here. (Side question: Do you all listen to music while you read? I never do—too distracting—although I can read in almost any public place.)

I'd also like to announce that on Monday morning, we'll be offering an exclusive first look at our review of Bree Tanner to Book of the Day subscribers. If you haven't already signed up for this fun and informative newsletter, you can do so now.

Anyone going to a late-night Bree Tanner release party or downloading the e-book at midnight?

So you can get your book-to-film fix without wasting a second, GalleyCat highlighted literary-themed movies from the "Watch Instantly" section of Netflix. Selections include The Basketball Diaries, Stand By Me, Iris and others. Also don't miss their ten best plays adapted into films. (My hands-down favorite? A Streetcar Named Desire.)

Proximity to Loretta Lynn's Dude Ranch just might be my favorite thing about living in Nashville, so I was excited to see a blog post on cookbooks from musicians—#1 on the list being You’re Cookin’ It Country by Loretta Lynn. (Butcher Holler Possum, anyone?) Other authors range from Sinatra to Coolio. Do you have a cookbook to add to the list?

Trisha and Abby tweeted and blogged from BEA and the Book Blogger Convention, but it's always nice to read another perspective. Amy writes about the heightened popularity of book bloggers at BEA, and Natasha takes readers on a tour inside some of New York's biggest publishing houses. Are you a book blogger who posted from BEA/BBC? Feel free to share the URL in our comments section.

Posted by Kate on June 03, 2010

Allen Ginsberg, the poet who wrote Howl and gave voice to the Beat Generation's passion and discontent, would have turned 84 today. (He died of liver cancer in 1997.) A new book celebrating Ginsberg's life and the lives of his fellow Beats was released last month: The Typewriter is Holy, by Bill Morgan. As the book's publicist says,

For the last two decades of Allen Ginsberg’s life, Bill Morgan assisted him daily as his bibliographer and archivist. As the author and editor of more than twenty books on the Beat Generation, including I Celebrate Myself: The Somewhat Private Life of Allen Ginsberg (Viking Press, 2006), Morgan, quite simply, knows more about the Beats than anyone alive.

I was captivated by the Beat poets and writers when I was younger, especially as a teenager; they helped me to realize that life could be deliciously strange and full of unexpected beauty. I might just pick up this book and see if the Beats still speak to me as an adult. Will you?

Posted by Eliza on June 03, 2010

Helen Fielding's beloved Bridget Jones character transitioned successfully from a column in the Independent, to two hugely successful novels (Bridget Jones's Diary and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason), to the screen, earning an Academy Award nomination for Renee Zellweger.

And now, the Guardianreports that it may become a musical, with the score written by British recording artist/actress Lily Allen.

According to the Guardian, Allen "is rumoured to be working with author Helen Fielding to bring a show to London's West End next year." (Although so far she's only finished one number, "a song about poor Bridget contemplating her fridge.")

Baked stuffed tomatoes “paella style”

serves 4

Although the flavors in this dish are those of Spanish paella, the rice I have chosen is Italian carnaroli; other risotto rice may be employed (a simple arborio or vialone nano), but I find carnaroli swells more evenly and tenderly for the stuffing.
These tomatoes may also be served alongside other small dishes as part of a buffet lunch (in which case, one each is sufficient). For a first course, as here, you will need two.

INSTRUCTIONS
Remove the stalks from the tomatoes and then turn them over. Using a small, sharp knife, slice through about a fifth of the way down the tomato, to give little caps. Reserve these for later. Now, using a teaspoon, carefully scoop out all of the tomato innards into a bowl. Place the hollowed-out shells in a roasting dish that will accommodate them snugly.

Put the green bell pepper, garlic, chili, parsley, paprika, and infused saffron (with its water) into a food processor and pulse until the ingredients are evenly but coarsely chopped. Now tip in the tomato pulp with a generous 1/3 cup of the olive oil and process further until the entire mixture is a sloppy, seedy, and oily tomato pap, with the other solids now more finely processed and in suspension. Put the rice into the bowl that previously held the tomato pulp. Pour the tomato pap from the food processor over it, mix well, and season with salt to taste. Leave to soak for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Fill the tomatoes with the rice mixture. Don’t be tempted to overfill—there may be a little left over—but do make sure that as much liquid as possible is included, even if it overflows into the dish. Replace the little caps onto the tomatoes and trickle the remaining oil over (plus a little more, if you like).

Bake in the oven for about 45 minutes, turning the heat down a touch if the tomatoes are browning too much—but browned and blistered they certainly must be! Taste a little of the rice to make sure it is fully cooked, although it will also continue to swell and tenderize as it cools. Serve at room temperature, for preference, basting well with the juices and oil just before serving.

Posted by Trisha on June 02, 2010

BEA may have lasted only two days, but many of the convention's most eager attendees had an event of their own to look forward to after the show closed: the first ever Book Blogger Convention. Organized by several of the most prominent literary bloggers, the event kicked off with a social hour on Thursday after BEA closed. There were nearly 200 registered attendees, and at least 100 others participated in an "Armchair Convention" organized by the bloggers who stayed at home.

Eager to meet my favorite bloggers, I hadn't realized I'd also encounter publicists and authors like Emma Donoghue, Susan Holloway Scott and Glen Plaskin, who attended with his puppy, Lucy, a descendant of the dog he writes about in the upcoming book Katie.

It's clear that savvy publicists and writers are interested in courting bloggers and social media mavens—the question is, has the rest of the world gotten with the program, or will the New York Timesstill print quotes from authors who categorize them as Terre Haute basement-dwellers? (Sorry, Richard Ford, but no one is going to forget that one.)

Posted by Eliza on June 02, 2010

It's a busy season for Jennifer Weiner fans. Best Friends Forevercame out in paperback May 4, and Fly Away Home, Weiner's newest novel about the family of a philandering politician, is out in hardback on July 13. (Look for a review in our July print edition and on BookPage.com.)

And today Publisher's Marketplace posted Weiner's latest deal—four new books, for publication once a year, again to Atria Books.

Any speculation on what Weiner will tackle next? What's your favorite of her seven published books?

Posted by Abby on June 02, 2010

At BEA last week, the BookPage team got to meet a number of notable people. Actor Zach Braff and his brother, author Joshua Braff. Justin Cronin (The Passage), Gail Caldwell (Let’s Take the Long Way Home), Joshilyn Jackson (Backseat Saints) and Suzanne Collins (The Hunger Games). I silently swooned as Trisha and I found ourselves in a hotel elevator with Cory Monteith, star of Glee and total dreamboat. But the crowning glory of the celebrity-spotting week—at least for me—came on Thursday afternoon.

Trisha and I were walking around the Javitz Center, making our way back to the BookPage booth, when I saw him: Pat Conroy, my favorite author, deep in conversation with someone I didn't recognize. Trisha can attest that she has never seen such a high-level freak out from me. I literally stopped in my tracks, paced, stared and obsessed over what to do. Would I go say hi? Would I just watch from afar like a crazy person? Would I pass out? Finally Trisha just told me if I had this chance and didn’t say something, I would regret it forever. So I took a deep breath, walked over and opened with, “I’m so sorry to interrupt, but you’re my favorite author, and I just had to come say hi.”

Mr. Conroy smiled, took my hand and said, “Well, thank you so much. Now, what’s your name, darling?” We chatted briefly about his novels, Charleston and how he plans to keep writing as long as people keep reading. His southern drawl was everything I hoped it would be, and I was thrilled—and honored—that someone of his literary stature would take time out of his day to talk with a fan. I thought I loved Pat Conroy before. And now I know it’s the real deal.

Have you gotten the chance to meet your favorite author? If you did, what would you say?

Posted by Eliza on June 02, 2010

I enjoy keeping up with local authors, so I was thrilled to learn that Adam Ross—former special-projects editor of the Nashville Scene—is releasing a debut novel on June 22. (Look out for Ross's story collection, Ladies & Gentlemen, next summer.)

The story is about video game programmer David and his obese wife, Alice, who is highly allergic to peanuts. Though David loves his wife, he often contemplates her death in the day-to-day routine of their marriage, and when she dies on account of her food allergy, David is the primary suspect. Throughout the book, Ross makes reference to Hitchcock films; Escher's Möbius strips; and Sam Sheppard of the highly public murder trial. I'll stop there in my summary, except to say that Mr. Peanut might just keep you up at night. Wrote Stephen King, in what has to be one of Knopf's favorite quotes of the year: "And it induced nightmares, at least in this reader. No mean feat."

Edited by the legendary Gary Fisketjon (who has worked with Raymond Carver, Cormac McCarthy, Donna Tartt and many others), Mr. Peanut is part marital drama and part police procedural, and as the opening paragraph demonstrates, it will hook you from page one. We'll be running a review of the novel and a Q&A with Ross in the July edition of BookPage, but based on the excerpt below, will you pick up Mr. Peanut?

When David Pepin first dreamed of killing his wife, he didn’t kill her himself. He dreamed convenient acts of God. At a picnic on the beach, a storm front moved in. David and Alice collected their chairs, blankets, and booze, and when the lightning flashed, David imagined his wife lit up, her skeleton distinctly visible as in a children’s cartoon, Alice then collapsing into a smoking pile of ash. He watched her walk quickly across the sand, the tallest object in the wide-open space. She even stopped to observe the piling clouds. “Some storm,” she said. He tempted fate by hubris. In his mind he declared: I, David Pepin, am wiser and more knowing than God, and I, David Pepin, know that God shall not, at this very moment, on this very beach, Jones Beach, strike my wife down. God did not. David knew more.

Posted by Eliza on June 01, 2010

As always, we're highlighting a lot of new content on BookPage.com, from summer romance novels, to kid thrillers to nonfiction page-turners. A few of my picks:

A small-town kid takes on a big-time case in Theodore Boone: Kid LawyerTheodore Boone: Kid Lawyer, John Grisham's first book for middle-grade readers—and book one in a planned series—will no doubt have wide appeal. Precocious tween bookworms will admire Theodore Boone, a 13-year-old wannabe lawyer, and reluctant readers will keep flipping the pages due to an action-packed plot.

William Rosen tells a story of inventions in The Most Powerful Idea in the WorldWilliam Rosen’s The Most Powerful Idea in the World tells the story of how steam power became the catalyst for England’s Industrial Revolution. And a convoluted tale it is, involving the country’s wealth of natural resources (coal, iron, copper and water for powering machines and transporting goods), the comparatively high literacy rate that enabled common folk to educate themselves in science and technology, a patent system that protected the rights of inventors and gave them economic incentive to both create and refine devices, and a population large and wealthy enough to form a profitable market for products the new industries turned out.